As the second mortgage was used to pay off items that were mostly in his name, he agreed to pay the second mortgage upon separation. You should know that neither the second mortgage account nor responsible party was specifically named in the divorce agreement.

For almost four years, he has been making the monthly payments. However, a few months ago, he decided to stop making payments and defaulted on the loan.

I have been informed by reliable sources that I do not have adequate legal recourse to force him into continuing to paying this loan. Yet, I do not feel that after all this time I should be forced into a position of making these payments (nor do I feel that I can afford them as a single mother).

After speaking with some co-workers, I was informed that should he or I neglect to pay this loan, the company would place a lien against the house that would have to be paid at the time of sale. Is there any other recourse that I have in this situation? Due to other issues with my ex-husband, my credit is already very poor, thus the damage of default could not possibly make it any worse.

Also, I intend to sell the house in the next two years. By that time, there should be enough value in the home to cover both the primary and secondary mortgages. How hard is it to settle a lien on a home? What happens if I go to sell the house and the company has not yet placed a lien on the home? Can I still sell the house without paying off the loan? Can I still be sued for the amount of the loan at a later time?

A: I don't know where you live, but your co-workers are misinformed about at least one thing: The second lender could force you into foreclosure if it wanted. More likely, the second lender already has a lien against your home. When you took out the second mortgage, it became a lien on the home. When this house sells, you will not get any proceeds until both of your lenders have been paid off.

You and your divorce lawyer appear to have made a serious mistake by not having the loans specifically named in your divorce agreement. But beyond that, if you are a co-signer of the second mortgage, you are responsible for that loan even if the proceeds were used by your husband to settle his own debts.

Had you named the loan and responsible party in your divorce agreement, you might still be in the same place, but you might have additional legal standing to go back to court to force the issue.

Is your ex-husband still listed on the property as an owner? Is he listed on both mortgages as an owner? If so, then he has killed your credit as he has killed his own -- probably a small comfort. Hopefully, your ex-husband has given up any legal interest he had in the house.

If you feel you can't afford to pay the second mortgage bill, you have a few choices: You can ask the lender to renegotiate the terms of the payment; you can engage in free budgeting services from a reputable credit counseling agency, such as CCCS of Greater Atlanta, to figure out how to make your income go farther; or you can get a second job.

For more information on any legal options you might have, as well as what liabilities and responsibilities you have based on the documents you've signed, please talk to a qualified real estate attorney.

You can also go back to the divorce attorney who assisted you and determine whether you can reopen the divorce proceeding to add a provision to the divorce decree that would make your former husband responsible for the second mortgage. While reopening the divorce judgment might not prevent the lender from foreclosing on the home, it might buy you some time until you decide to sell the home or to entice the second lender into making the loan payments manageable for you.

Q: My siblings and I received property from our mother through a quitclaim deed. She has since died. The property is in West Virginia, but we live in Ohio. We didn't sign the deed nor was it ever recorded through the local clerk of courts.

Is this quitclaim deed valid? If it is, which state law has precedence: West Virginia, where the property is and where my mother lived, or Ohio? Our brother passed away two years ago; his wife claims that she inherited his one-seventh ownership of the property. She does not want to relinquish rights and we are looking for a loophole.

A: From your question, you seem to imply that your sister-in-law has a claim to the property if the quitclaim deed is valid, but if the quitclaim deed is not valid, she might be out of luck.

It's unfortunate that you feel the need to find a "loophole" to deprive your sister-in-law of her share of the property.

I guess you need to see what your mother's intent was when she gave all of you the property and signed the quitclaim deed. If her intent was to have each of her kids receive a piece of her property and now due to terrible circumstances once of your brothers has died, his wife would probably be entitled to his share of the home.

You might be right that there may be a loophole for you to use. But you'll need to consult with a real estate attorney in West Virginia to determine if the quitclaim deed that was unrecorded during the lifetime of the grantor is still valid.

In some states, if a deed is not recorded promptly after delivery to the recipient, that deed could be presumed to be invalid or other people that might claim an interest in the home might have a claim against the home, which could trump the ownership interest of the people named on the deed.

What some people don't realize is that a properly prepared and delivered quitclaim deed will transfer the ownership of a home even if the deed isn't recorded. The key, however, is that some jurisdictions penalize the party that fails to record the deed. Furthermore, if the deed was prepared and signed but never delivered to the intended recipients, you might be able to claim that the deed was invalid, particularly if the proper documentation that might have been necessary for the quitclaim deed was never signed by your mother.

Some states have laws in place that will protect other purchasers of the property if they record a deed for the property prior to a deed that floats around without ever being recorded.

Some states also want to collect taxes and other fees on the recording of the deed. And in some other jurisdictions, when the deed is recorded, property taxes can increase substantially for the new owner.

Due to all of these issues and state laws, you need to determine if anything happened to the title to the home from the time your mother executed the quitclaim deed to the time of her death. You'll also need to determine if the executor of her will in West Virginia has taken any action in court to dispose of the property.

When your mom died, her will, if she had one, would have dictated who received what share of her assets. If she left all of her assets in her will to her children equally, then your late brother would have received a share and it's likely that his wife, or, at the very least, their children, would have inherited his share of the property after his death.

If your mom died "intestate," or without a will, the laws of the state in which she died would determine who received what assets.

I'm sorry, but there is no simple answer to your question. You'll need to do some additional research on the title to your mom's home to see if anything changed on the status of the probate of your mom's will, and on the status of the quitclaim deed.

To get even more valuable advice from Ilyce, visit her Personal Finance and Real Estate Center.

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